ST. LOUIS — A day later, there were no tread marks on anyone’s chest. There was no confusion on who was to blame for phone mix-up. Nobody was pointing fingers about how a team at the pinnacle of its sport couldn’t communicate at a time when pre-schoolers send text messages.

“It was my fault,” La Russa said of the eighth-inning bullpen confusion that directly impacted the game’s outcome. “I have told (bullpen coach Derek) Lilliquist 10 times he did nothing wrong.”

Revisiting the strange sequence Tuesday, La Russa shed a little additional light, took more responsibility, but neither could reconcile how something so simple as getting the right reliever in the game went so wrong.

After Octavio Dotel allowed an eighth-inning leadoff double to Michael Young the problems arose. Dotel struck out Adrian Beltre, then was instructed to intentionally walk Nelson Cruz. Dotel wondered why afterward, liking, as many did, the matchup with the free-swinger. During that time, La Russa called Lilliquist and told him to get left-hander Marc Rzepczynski and Jason Motte up in the bullpen. La Russa admitted Tuesday for the first time that perhaps he hung up too soon and that Lilliquist didn’t hear Motte’s name.

“I wasn’t told anything. I am ready to go whenever they need me. But I wasn’t thinking that it was strange,” Motte said. “I was thinking we would get out of the inning.”

None of this would have come to light had Rzepczynski handled left-handed hitting David Murphy’s groundball. It caromed off his glove, leaving bases loaded. Before Rzepczynski threw his first pitch in the game, La Russa called the bullpen again, telling Lilliquist to get Motte loose. Lilliquist heard Lance Lynn’s name, even though it sounds nothing like Motte and even though Lynn was supposed to be available only in an emergency (which this wasn’t).With Motte not warming, rendering even the best stall tactics pointless, Rzepczynski was stuck pitching to Mike Napoli. He promptly delivered a two-run double.

This is where the mistake likely happened, where there’s still room for intrepretation. Did La Russa say the wrong name to Lilliquist during the second call? Or is he covering for pitching coach Dave Duncan, who perhaps misspoke. La Russa was not 100 percent sure he made the call, leading to speculation that maybe he didn’t.

Lynn wound up in the game after Napoli’s hit, used for an intentional walk. It was then that Motte said he was told to get loose. He quickly jumped up, stretched and threw fewer than 10 warmup pitches.

“It was embarrassing,” La Russa said. “It was my fault.”

Motte eventually rambled into the game and recorded the final out, but the Cardinals trailed 4-2.

“I didn’t start getting loose until Lynn was on the mound in the game taking his warm-up pitches. It’s fine. It doesn’t take me long,” Motte said. “Was it weird (seeing Lynn used only for an intentinal walk?) Well, I try not to think too much about things when I am out there. Thinking about everythnig is why I hit .180 as a catcher.”

Patrick, a third-generation Colorado native, is back for his second stint covering the Rockies. He first covered the team from 2005-2009, helping chronicle “Rocktober” in 2007 and also following the team’s playoff run in 2009.

Nick Groke has worked at The Denver Post since 1997, as a sports reporter, city reporter, entertainment writer and digital editor and producer, among other newsroom posts. He also writes regularly about boxing, soccer, MMA and NASCAR.